Is there potential for learning in amusia? A study of the effect of singing intervention in congenital amusia

Abstract

Congenital amusia is a neurodevelopmental disorder of musical perception and production. Much research has focused on characterizing the deficits within this special population; however, it is also important from both a psychological and educational perspective to determine which aspects of the disorder may be subject to change because this will also constrain theorizing about the nature of the disorder, as well as facilitating possible future remediation programs. In this small-scale study, a professional singing teacher used a broad-brush intervention approach with five individuals diagnosed with congenital amusia. The compensatory elements were designed to enhance vocal efficiency and health, singing technique, musical understanding, pitch perception, and production. Improvements were observed in most individuals in perception, indexed via the Montreal Battery for the Evaluation of Amusia scale subtest and in the vocal performance of familiar songs. The workshop setting gave a unique opportunity for observation and discussion to inform further investigations of this disorder.

Sung melody enhances verbal learning and recall after stroke

“…At the neural level, these effects are most likely related to the bilaterality of the temporal, frontal, and limbic networks engaged in processing songs and to the preservation of vocal music processing in spared brain regions previously reported in amusia and aphasia after stroke using fMRI . Similarly, singing‐based training has been observed to be beneficial both for enhancing speech production in aphasia and singing production and music perception in amusia . Given that our stroke sample here was nonselected with respect to specific symptoms or lesion locations, there is a natural overlap (comorbidity) between the aphasic, amusic, and memory deficits (Table ).…”

“…39 Similarly, singing-based training has been observed to be beneficial both for enhancing speech production in aphasia [22][23][24] and singing production and music perception in amusia. 59,60 Given that our stroke sample here was nonselected with respect to specific symptoms or lesion locations, there is a natural overlap (comorbidity) between the aphasic, amusic, and memory deficits (Table 1). Therefore, we are not able to reliably discern the specificity of the observed effects to each of these deficits.…”

Impairments in musical abilities reflected in the auditory brainstem: evidence from congenital amusia

“…This raises the question of whether similar training paradigms might prove beneficial in amusia. Attempts of musical rehabilitation either through music exposure or vocal training in amusia have shown little to no improvement (Anderson et al ., ; Mignault‐Goulet et al ., ), suggesting that training might not be sufficient to overcome lifelong cortical changes that led to the subcortical deficit in the first place.…”

Congenital amusias

“…Amusics seem to benefit from singing in unison when singing without lyrics (Tremblay-Champoux et al, 2010), and from a seven-session training program, leading to improved vocal performance of familiar songs (Anderson et al, 2012). Amusics seem to benefit from singing in unison when singing without lyrics (Tremblay-Champoux et al, 2010), and from a seven-session training program, leading to improved vocal performance of familiar songs (Anderson et al, 2012).…”